Temperature- and pH-Dual Sensitive Hydrogel Fiber

摘要

Smart hydrogels show dramatic and reversible changes in their swelling behaviors in response to environmental signals, such as pH, temperature, ionic strength, and light. The kinetics of volume change of smart hydrogels are usually diffusion-controlled processes, with the diffusion coefficients falling in the range of 0.8-8×10~(-7) cm~2/s. Therefore, it takes hours for a thin 1-mm gel to reach equilibrium in response to a stimulus, which is too slow for many potential applications.